APPLICATION OF LEADERSHIP

An Application of Leadership in The Workplace



An Application of Leadership in the Workplace

Introduction

Organizational leadership application can be defined as planned and systematic efforts to improve the quality of leadership (Groves, 2007). The widespread flattering of organizational structures and significant changes in work arrangements has required that organizations rethink how potential managers attain the necessary applicational experiences for senior leadership. The rapid changes in business, technology, political and social factors have called for the application of effective leadership skills (Cacioppe, 1998). Consequently, leadership application programs have become an increasing priority for business and government organizations. Highly successful organizations focus on creating a comprehensive set of assessment and leadership application practices that support the wide range of talents across the organization (Groves, 2007; Charan, 2001). The key elements that contribute to a successful leadership experience include changing mindsets, a global focus, personnel application and improved business and leadership skills. Critical to the success of any leadership application process is the ability to encourage participants to reflect on learning experiences in order to promote the transfer of knowledge and skills to work contexts. The concept of a leadership application culture is similar to the idea of a learning organization (Vardiman , 2006; Senge, 1990). A learning organization facilitates change, empowers organizational members, encourages collaboration and sharing of information, creates opportunities for learning, and promotes leadership application. According to Allio (2005), the primary goal of a good leader is to reinforce values and purpose, develop vision and strategy, build continuity, and initiate appropriate organizational change. Allio (2005) adds that it is important that leadership developers first establish a metric for assessing leadership effectiveness, and then design experiments that can establish a causal or statistically significant relationship between training initiatives and leadership competency. It is also necessary to develop a better understanding of the conditions or contextual factors needed to enable the application of effective leaders. With such an understanding, senior management can develop the conditions necessary to facilitate the growth of future leaders.

Discussion

Successful leadership application process also depends on the ability to encourage participants to reflect on learning experiences in order to promote transfer of knowledge and skills to work contexts. It is essential that leaders be given opportunities to practice new skills and knowledge in real work settings (action learning). Since leadership application entails both the understanding of concepts and the ability to practice them, it is important that business educators draw from a broad spectrum of pedagogical tools to align theory with application (Morrison , 2003). In addition to covering technical job skills, such programs should focus on self-awareness, changing attitudes, building teams and improving interpersonal interactions. These competencies are believed to be instrumental keys to organizational performance and productivity (Burke and Collins, 2005).

Popper and Lipshitz (1993) indicate three components to a successful leadership application program. The first is developing self-efficacy in the domain of leadership. Self-efficacy is the extent to which a person believes he can perform well in a specific ...